Hugh White

Hugh White is Professor of Strategic Studies in the School of International, Political & Strategic Studies at the Australian National University. He is a regular columnist for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. From 2001 to 2004 Professor White was the first Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Before that he had served as an intelligence analyst with the Office of National Assessments, as a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald, as a senior adviser on the staffs of Defence Minister Kim Beazley and Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and as a senior official in the Department of Defence, where from 1995 to 2000 he was Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence.

It is possible to sketch what’s happening in Asia and what it means for Australia in terms which are not as scary politically or diplomatically as our ministers seem to assume. Here is a modest drafting suggestion.